Raritan River’s headwaters in good health

A report card by the Raritan Headwaters Association has found the North and South branches of the Raritan River to be relatively healthy.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Lauren Theis)

BEDMINSTER – The North and South branches of the Raritan River are in good health, according to the first report card of the Raritan Headwaters Association.

Thanks to trained volunteers, the nonprofit organization has been monitoring the quality of the water in the two main tributaries of the Raritan River and other streams in Somerset, Hunterdon and Morris counties for close to six decades.

In 2017, the average water quality rating in the northwestern sections of the watershed was “good.” However, the eastern and southern sections — specifically, the North Branch and the Neshanic rivers — averaged only “fair.”

As a whole, streams within the watershed received an “A” grade on several other indicators of health, including temperature, dissolved oxygen, habitat, pH and turbidity. But they dropped down to a “C” for bacteria and nitrates, and a “D” for phosphates.

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“As a headwaters region, our water quality should be ‘excellent’ because millions of people in the watershed and downstream in urban areas of the state are drinking the water originating in our streams and aquifers,” said Angela Gorczyca, the organization’s water quality manager. “So there is still much room for improvement.”

New Jersey American Water pulls water from the main stem of the Raritan River for its 1.5 million customers in Central Jersey.

For decades, Raritan Headwaters has collected samples at sites on streams and rivers, including information about the water’s benthic macroinvertebrates (the tiny organisms that live in streams), chemistry and habitat.

The report card is largely based on a scale called the High Gradient Macroinvertebrate Index (HGMI), which tests for the presence of tiny crustaceans, worms and insects in streams and rivers. Some of these creatures, like stoneflies, are highly sensitive to pollutants and will die off when waters are contaminated.

In 2017, Raritan Headwaters sampled water at 67 stream sites throughout the watershed with the help of trained volunteer “citizen scientists.”

“Raritan Headwaters is dedicated to being the watershed watchdog looking out for problems affecting our water,” said Dr. Kristi MacDonald, the organization’s director of science. “Our region, which includes the North and South branches of the Raritan River, is 470 square miles — and nobody else does what we do to protect it.”